Television Cameras in the Courtroom

* A state task force recommendation to impose a total and permanent TV blackout on what’s happening in California’s courts during pretrial proceedings is a step in precisely the wrong direction (“Banning Cameras in Court Won’t Cure What’s Wrong,” editorial, Feb. 26).

Claims that cameras undermine the dignity of the courts or distort the judicial process simply don’t wash. Whether cameras are in the court is not the issue, because it’s the judge--not the camera--who controls the proceedings. The camera is the “unfiltered eye.” It allows people to see exactly how justice is--or fails to be--administered and may actually provoke policy discussions about how to improve the state’s administration of justice.

The blackout approach embraced by the state Judicial Council task force ignores the positive aspects of making court proceedings more broadly available. There are times when cameras are not appropriate, which is why my AB 2119 requires the Judicial Council to set policies governing when and how judges can choose to ban cameras from the courtroom.

The system may not be perfect. But pulling the plug in every courtroom in the state in a knee-jerk response to one sensational trial is not the way to improve it and build public confidence in our judicial system.

DEBRA BOWEN

Vice Chairwoman

Assembly Judiciary Committee

D-Marina del Rey

* I strongly disagree with your Feb. 14 editorial. As we have seen from the circus-like atmosphere surrounding the O.J. Simpson trial, television cameras drive up the cost and lengthen the time of trials. Rates for a 30-second TV spot jumped from $3,000 to $24,000. Ratings for CNN’s gavel-to-gavel coverage increased 600% and Time-Warner made a huge profit by selling videos of the proceedings. The taxpayer received no compensation, just the bill.

There is a growing opinion from lawyers, judges and the public that TV cameras should not be allowed in the courtroom because they result in everyone playing to the cameras and not to the issues.

MICHAEL D. ANTONOVICH

Chairman, Board of Supervisors